Packaging machines



July 24, 1962 T. JUNGMAYR ETAL 3,045,720

PACKAGING MACHINES Filed April 5, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 24, 1962 T. JUNGMAYR ETAL 3,045,720

PACKAGING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 5, 1960 July 24, 1962 T. JUNGMAYR ETAL 3,045,720

PACKAGING MACHINES Filed April 5, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 July 24, 1962 T. JUNGMAYR ETAL 3,045,720

PACKAGING MACHINES Filed April 5, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig. 74

3233 A y 37 A: 7

Fig. 15 I."

United States Patent Office 3,45,720 Patented July 24, 1962 3,045,720 PACKAGING MACHINES Theodor Jungmayr, Stuttgart, and Paul Lohse, Stuttgart- Bad Cannstatt, Germany, assignors to Firma Fr. Hesser Maschinenfabrik-Aktiengesellschat't, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Apr. 5, 1960, Ser. No. 20,166 Claims priority, application Germany Apr. 14, 1959 Claims. (Cl. 141145) This invention relates to packaging machines for emptying batches of loose material, measured out in stationary weighers, into packaging containers which are introduced continuously by an endless conveyor mechanism.

The aim of the present invention is to provide a machine which permits a high rate of discharge in connec tion and of compact construction and comparatively simple control means.

The machine according to the present invention comprises a bucket chain made up of buckets having bottom discharge flaps, said chain having straight sections and curved bridging sections, discharge weighers arranged in a row above each of said straight sections, transfer chutes mounted between said weighers and said bucket chain for pivoting in the direction of the corresponding straight section whereby the outlet of each chute is adapted to accompany a bucket of the bucket chain during each forward pivoting movement thereof, a conveyor mechanism for packaging containers disposed beneath said bucket chain, means for driving said conveyor mechanism at the speed of the bucket chain, and means for operating the discharge flaps of said buckets over said curved bridging section to discharge the contents of said buckets to said conveyor mechanism.

This arrangement has the substantial advantage that the total discharge height is comparatively low, and a large number of weighers can be installed above the packaging machine to give a high rate of output and yet be supervisable and readily accessible.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side view of an embodiment of a packaging machine in accordance with the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a plan of the packaging machine shown in FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a front view of the discharging apparatus of the machine,

FIGURES 4 to 8 illustrate different positions of a pivotable chute of the discharging apparatus in relation to conveyor buckets which are to be charged,

FIGURE 9 is a side view of a conveyor bucket,

FIGURE 10 is a perspective view of a detail of a control device,

FIGURE 11 is a plan view of another embodiment of the present invention,

FIGURE 12 is a side view of the machine according to FIGURE 11,

FIGURE 13 is a partial side view of a third embodiment of the present invention,

FIGURE 14 is a plan of the embodiment shown in FIGURE 13, and

FIGURE 15 is, in an enlarged scale, a cross-section of a detail of FIGURE 1.

The embodiments illustrated in the drawings are concerned with a machine for filling and closing packages P which are introduced by a continuously circulating conveyor mechanism 1 to the filling and closing devices. The package-s P are filled at one of the two semicircular reversing sections of the conveyor mechanism 1. The means for treating and closing the filled packages are of the well-known type, for instance as described in United States Patent No. 1,527,030.

The weighing out of the individual quantities of charging material is efiected by a number of electrically controlled automatic batch weighers 2 which are well-known to a man skilled in the art, and which are disclosed, for instance, in United States Patent No. 2,451,891. The weighers 2 are arranged side by said in pairs and groups, and are mounted above the straight sections of a bucket chain 3 provided with conveyor buckets 4 and running around toothed wheels 26 and 26 secured to shafts 24, 24. The bucket chain 3 is, in turn, located above the conveyor mechanism 1 of the machine and, in the present example, has two reversing circular sections co-axial with those of the conveyor mechanism 1. The bucket chain 3 is driven in common with the conveyor mechanism 1 by an electric motor 20 located in the housing 60 of the machine frame 61, the drive being transmitted through the intermediary of a belt drive 21, worm gearing 22, and bevel gearing 23 to the vertical shaft 24 on which are secured driving wheels 25 and 26 for the conveyor 1 and the bucket chain 3.

The transfer of the weighed-out quantities of filling material from the stationary weighers 2 into the buckets 4 of the bucket chain 3 circulating at uniform speed, is effected by means of discharge chutes 5 which are pivotably mounted on pivots 13 supported in bearings 63 secured on longitudinal beams 6 The chutes 5 are reciprocated in a swinging movement in the vertical medial plane of the straight sections of the bucket chain 3, by means of a crank mechanism 6 through crank arms 7 and coupling bars 8. The two weighers 2 of a pair of weighers discharge alternately into an appropriate one of these pivotable chutes 5 at the moment the chute is at its outer dead centre position from which it will subsequently move in the same direction as the conveyor buckets 4. The leading or advancing part of the poured material is first held back at the outlet from the pivotable chute 5 by shut-off segments 9 fixedly mounted on bars 66, until the outlet of the chute 5 has come into registry with its associated bucket 4 (see FIGURES 4 to 8). While the chutes 5, after having reached their other dead centre position, return to their starting position, the bucket chain 3 moves on at the same speed so that all the conveyor buckets '4 are in turn brought into registry with their corresponding chutes 5.

Corresponding to the arrangement of the wei-ghers 2, the pivotable chutes 5 are arranged into groups which are driven by the two crank drives 6, 7. As shown in FIG- URE 15, fixed on the upper end of the vertical shaft 24- is a bevel gear 27 which through another bevel gear 28 drives a shaft 29. The shaft 29 fixedly carries crank discs 6 to which are articulated the crank arms '7 by which the coupling bars 8 are reciprocated.

As also shown in FIGURE 15, the discharge of the Weighers 2 is controlled by a cam shaft 31 which is driven from the crank shaft 29 through chain gearing 30. As may be also seen from FIGURE 10, the cam shaft 31 carries two cam disks 32, 33 the cam lobes of which are offset by relative to each other, and which alternately operate two electric switches 34, 35. These switches 34, 35 are in connection with the electro-magnets 36 which, according to FIGURE 3, control the discharge of the weighing cups 37 of the weighers 2, as is well-known to the man skilled in the art.

In the present embodiments, in which each pivotable chute 5 has associated therewith two weighters 2 discharging alternately during each swinging movement, the magnet 36 of the one weigher is electrically connected to the switch 34, whereas the magnet of the other weigher is connected to the switch 35. Accordingly, a transmission ratio of 1:2 is provided between crankshaft 29 and cam shaft 31.

Since in most cases the means for closing the packaging containers P are mounted above the conveyor mechanism 1 and take up a corresponding amount of room as shown in phantom at 15 in FIGS 1, 11, 13, the discharging of the conveyor buckets 4 is accomplished, in the embodiments illustrated in FIGURES 1, 2 and 13, 14 through intermediate chutes 11 which, according to FIGURES 1 and 2, circulate on a drum 10 or, according to FIGURES 13 and 14, on a chain 40 running around sprocket wheels 41 and 42. The arrangement of the intermediate chutes '11 on a chain 40 presents the advantage that, with high operating speeds, the time during which the conveyor buckets 4 and the intermediate chutes 11, resp. the packaging containers P, are in registry, is prolonged. Wheel 41 is secured to shaft 24, and wheel 42 is loosely mounted on column 43.

In order to obviate the need for intermediate chutes 11, it is possible to arrange the bucket chain 3 and the rows of the weighers 2 at an angle to the package conveyor mechanism 1, as shown in the embodiment according to FIGURES 11 and 12.

This oblique arrangement of the bucket chain with respect to the package conveyor mechanism restricts the overlapping of these two mechanisms and thereby does not interfere with any pre-existing bag closing means 15 located above the package conveyor.

For discharge purposes, the conveyor buckets 4 are provided with pivotable bottom flaps 12, as shown in FIGURE 9. Fixed to the bottom flaps 12 at the pivot point thereof are levers 44, 45 which are interconnected by a link 46. One of these levers (44) further carries a roller 47 which, during the discharge section of the path of the bucket 4, engages a rail 48 (see FIGURE 1) fixedly mounted on the machine and arranged in respect to the travel of the buckets 4 in such a manner that the bottom flaps 12 are pivoted against the force of a spring 49 acting on lever 45. Thereby the contents of the conveyor buckets 4 is discharged through the intermediate chutes 11 (FIG- URES 1, 2 and 13, 14) or directly (FIGURES 11 and 12) into the packaging containers P circulating on the conveyor 1.

What we claim is:

1. A packaging machine having means for discharging pourable material into packaging containers, said packag- L ing machine comprising in combination, a bucket chain, buckets on said chain and said buckets including discharge fiaps, said chain having straight sections and curved bridging sections and being advanceable in a determinable direction, discharge weighers fixedly supported above said straight sections, transfer chutes pivotally supported between said weighers and said bucket chain, the transfer chutes being pivotable in the direction of advancement of said chain, each said transfer chute having a discharge end in correspondence with one of said buckets during the advancement of the same, conveyor means for packaging containers disposed beneath said bucket chain, means for driving said conveyor means and said bucket chain at the same speed, and means for operating the discharge flaps of said buckets over said curved bridging section to discharge the contents of said buckets to said conveyor means.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the discharge chutes are assembled in groups, and comprising a gearing means for driving the chutes of each group.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the conveyor means has opposite reversing sections, said sections being of identical contour as the curved bridging sections of said chain.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 1, comprising a stationary shut-off segment associated with the discharge end of each said chute, said segment sealing the discharge end of the chute when the same is at rest and opening the same after the chute has pivotally advanced a determinable distance.

5. A machine as claimed in claim 1, in which auxiliary chutes are arranged between the buckets and the conveyor means at the curved bridging sections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 794,604 Gannon July 11, 1905 952,331 Hoyt Mar. 15, 1910 2,588,483 Chapman Mar. 11, 1952 2,678,185 Howard May 11, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 286,701 Italy June 19, 1931 

